Awakening the Dark Dragon
by AuraWielder
Summary: It all came down to this moment as Lucas pulled the final needle. An interpretation of Mother 3's ending, with Lucas, Kumatora, Duster, Boney, Flint, and even the Dark Dragon.


Awakening the Dark Dragon

WARNING: Massive spoilers for Mother 3!

* * *

Everything seemed to stop for Lucas.

Despite the world-ending potential that could happen from awakening the Dark Dragon, Lucas had known that there was no other choice. He was the only chance that humanity had. Being among the descendants of the immigrants from the White Ship, he knew that the few humans that were left in the world would die out. But the Dark Dragon could give humanity a second chance. The world could be reborn and restored.

The Dark Dragon's Awakening had caused the island to shift and crack and erupt as he broke through the crust of the island. Among Lucas's friends, almost everyone seemed frightened. Duster, Boney, Flint… even Kumatora seemed unnerved about it all.

"This is it." Lucas thought to himself, with the Dark Dragon rising farther and farther up and out of the crack in the island. "I can do this. I can speak with the Dark Dragon."

True to his name, the Dark Dragon was as black as night, flying out of the crack with a ferocious roar. Going from where he hatched, he flew over to Lucas, heeding the call of the one who woke the Dark Dragon.

And with a giant 'THUD!', he landed only 10 feet away from Lucas, directly facing him. He was nearly 20 feet tall, well eclipsing Lucas' height. His wings were long, scaled, and majestic, holding them close to his body. His tail was weighty and powerful, looking like it could knock over a building flat. His arms and legs were clawed and scaled. And his head… despite his appearance with many spikes on top protruding upwards and continuing towards his back, a horned chin, a large head frame, and an intimidating glare in his eyes… he was not evil.

The others… Kumatora, Duster, Boney, and Flint… for perhaps the first time in her life, the strong tomboy Kumatora felt a very real fear creep up into her. Duster's own bad leg started shaking wildly, forcing him to sit down and wait it out. Boney whined and whimpered, nuzzling up to Duster in his own fear. And Flint… only looked at Lucas. Truth be told, Flint was rather scared too. But if there was anybody braver than he right now, it was his only son left.

Lucas stood strong as the Dark Dragon looked at him, standing in place.

"So, you are the one who woke me?"

Without hesitation, Lucas nodded. "Yes."

The Dark Dragon walked closer to Lucas… and motioned his body to bow before him, his entire body coming down and humbling himself. "I yield to your command, Master."

This caught Lucas, and everybody else, by surprise. "M-Master?" Lucas stuttered. "Umm… a bit of a big title for me, don't you think?"

The Dark Dragon explained. "You have pulled 4 of the 7 needles necessary to wake me. The one known as Claus only pulled 3 of the 7. As you have pulled the majority and Claus is now dead, I obey your commands as my Master."

Lucas grimaced at that, looking back to Claus. He REALLY didn't need a reminder that Claus was dead now. At least, Lucas supposed, that he could now join his mother in heaven.

"…So you aren't going to kill us and we actually have a shot at this?"

That came from Kumatora, who seemed to overcome the crippling fear once she realized the Dark Dragon was on Lucas' side.

"As said before, I yield to my Master. And my Master alone. Shall he wish to kill you, I will fulfill that wish."

"Nononono! Don't kill them!" Lucas belted out quickly, really not wanting things to go south and have ANOTHER person dead.

"As you wish, Master." The Dark Dragon acknowledged. With that, a huge sigh of relief came from Lucas and Kumatora.

"Oh, thank God. Humanity is NOT screwed, after all." She said, regaining most of her composure.

Lucas chuckled, happy to see Kumatora being… well, Kumatora. He turned back to the Dark Dragon, his fear completely vanquished from seeing that the Dark Dragon was truly on his side. The idea of commanding such a powerful and almost god-like dragon was certainly a weird one… but it could make things better again.

"Dark Dragon?" Lucas addressed.

"Yes, Master?" he acknowledged.

"My command… my command is for humanity to be given a second chance. You probably know as well as I do that the population is dying out, and humans won't live for much longer with the Nowhere Islands being the only hospitable place left. So… if it is within your power… rebirth the world."

"…Thy will shall be done, Master."

A bright and beautiful light started to shine from the Dark Dragon. Glowing brighter and brighter, the white light completely enveloped everyone's vision. They all had to cover their eyes from the intensity, until the light started to fade away.

Finally, Lucas took his hands off of his eyes.

* * *

…He was home. The familiar and cozy wooden cabin came into view. Everything was how it had once been. Looking around, he saw Kumatora, Duster, Boney, and his father Flint all just as surprised as Lucas was.

The Dark Dragon almost seemed to have vanished… or at least, until he landed within 10 feet of Lucas again. At least he had the courtesy to be within the open field away from possibly crushing the house.

"Thy will has been done, Master."

"Just… just like that?" Lucas asked, almost unable to believe it. "Everything's back to normal?"

The Dark Dragon nodded. "The Nowhere Islands are back to their original form before the arrival of Porky Minch, and the Earth has been repopulated and reverted back to a state where humanity can start over."

Lucas let out a sigh of relief. He was glad that this entire journey hadn't been all for nothing.

"That reminds me…" Kumatora muttered. "What the hell happened to that fat bastard, anyways? Last time we saw, he was in that Absolutely Safe Capsule. You… didn't open it, did you?"

"Actually, even I could not open it. Seeing your obvious disdain for this Porky Minch, and your desire to give humanity another chance, I dropped his Absolutely Safe Capsule into the bottom of the ocean, where he will never be found."

Almost everybody did a double-take at that, having not expected that AT ALL. "That was… not really in the description of what I had in mind… but I guess I'll take it if it means humanity won't be under his corruptive influence again." Lucas admitted.

"I must warn you, though. Even without Porky Minch, the world can still succumb to other corruptive influences. While Porky is gone, corruptive influences will always exist within humanity. It is up to humanity to keep that in check." The Dark Dragon warned.

Lucas nodded. "And I'll make sure that Tazmily Village won't succumb to that again."

Flint finally spoke up. "So… having the world back is nice and all… but what about Hinawa and Claus? Can they…?"

"They are in the heavens now, and it is out of my power to extract them from there." The Dark Dragon admitted.

Flint came into acceptance. "Understood. I'm going to love the only son I have left… and never neglect him again."

Lucas smiled. "Dad…"

He dashed up to his father and hugged him joyfully.

Duster had one question to ask though, looking at the Dark Dragon. "…So, what happens to you?"

They all realized… that WAS a good question. With the world back to normal, what was the Dark Dragon going to do?

"My role here is done. I have granted my Master's wish. Now, I must return to my slumber underneath the Nowhere Islands once again… until I am once again needed."

Lucas frowned a bit. "Just… sleep? All by yourself? After so long?"

"Yes, Master. That is the way things must be."

Lucas shook his head. "I don't see why. The world is at peace and restored."

"…It is the way it must be." The Dark Dragon repeated.

"…What if this happens again?" Lucas asked.

For once, the Dark Dragon was caught by surprise. "…What do you mean?"

Lucas sighed. "Let's say you go back to sleep. Fine. But what if someone of a dark heart comes by long after I'm dead? One that can pull the Seven Needles once more. Then they'd be your Master. And if they commanded you to destroy the world… you'd have to. I don't want that to happen."

The Dark Dragon… paused. He had long regarded it as his duty to sleep until a chosen one needed him. He had slept for thousands of years… but since he was up… he didn't have a plan beyond going back to sleep again.

He had the obvious question for his Master. "…Why would you want me to stay?"

This realization hit Kumatora, Duster, and ESPECIALLY Flint like a freight train. Was Lucas seriously going to suggest…?

"Because everyone deserves a chance at life." Lucas smiled.

Flint was on the verge of crying, if not already doing so, seeing his son smile like that. He hadn't seen him smile like that since before Hinawa was killed.

"I… I don't know what to say… Master." The Dark Dragon stuttered. "Nobody… ever suggested this before.

"You don't need to call me Master." Lucas said. "Just… call me Lucas."

"OK, then… Lucas." The Dark Dragon said.

"…I hate to rain on the parade here, but he's kind of… well… big." Kumatora said, absolutely deadpan.

"…This is solvable." The Dark Dragon told them. With that, his body began to… shrink? His body kept doing so until he was just at 5 feet, only slightly taller than Lucas, and now standing on two legs, his claws morphed into more usable arms.

"Well… today, that counts for unexpected event number… oh, I've lost track at this point." Kumatora sighed.

Lucas chuckled again, before giving the Dark Dragon a joyful hug. He was certainly less spiky in this form. Something Lucas could get used to.

"Welcome to our family."

* * *

EarthBound/Mother 3 © Nintendo/Shigesato Itoi

And there you have it. While everyone has their own interpretations of Mother 3's very ambiguous ending, I wanted to take my own spin on it and I like to think that things turned out pretty good in the end.

As always, read and review/comment!


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